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Dad gave me a Conolon HCH fly rod when I was 11. He said, “Do it like I do. Keep the rod between 11 and 1 o’clock, and hold a newspaper under your arm when you practice.” He added, “Twenty percent of the fisherman catch eighty percent of the fish.” I have been self-teaching and trying to reach the twenty percent ever since. I built my first fly rod seven years ago thinking I could get more rod for the money doing it myself. I continue to suffer the same motivation.

There is a Ford 8N restored tractor in the barn along with a 67 Airstream trailer and 54 Chevy pickup. Is there any surprise that I would build a fly rod from a vintage rod blank?

4-Shakespeare, Conolon, and Sili-Flex

4-Shakespeare, Conolon, & Sili-Flex

Howald and Havens started the fiberglass fly rod industry. I will start with a description of their rods in the collection, and add Sili-Flex because it was an early offshoot of Haven’s Conolon.

This first rod is a Shakespeare Wonder Rod model 1250 made in January 1953 (FHK date code). It

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1-Fiberglass Collection

1 – Fiberglass Collection

Dad gave me a Garcia Conolin fiberglass fly rod with a old Pfluger reel in 1957. Of course it used a HCH line, and for leader I used monofiliment from my spinning reel. This didn’t change until the late 60’s, and I didn’t have a graphite rod until the early 80’s.

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